Sunday, October 2, 2011

PSNH and its dirty coal-burning plant

For years, a coal-burning power plant in Bow, NH, has been destroying the aquatic life of the Merrimack River, and the plant’s owners want to continue to do so unhindered. They take exception to a proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they upgrade their cooling system.
According to a report by the EPA, the current system  - which dates back to the days of unfettered pollution - heats up the habitat around the plant and traps fish in its system.
“We know that the fish populations have changed dramatically,” said EPA spokesman David Deegan in an article in Friday’s Concord Monitor. “A lot of the changes we see are fish that want warmer water.”
The owners, Public Service of New Hampshire, are the same group that wants to cut a gash through the White Mountains to bring electricity south from Canada – not for New Hampshire consumers, but to sell elsewhere. The name is nothing short of misleading -  they are not a public entity, but a private corporation, and the only service they’re interested in, is to their shareholders.
Which brings us back to the coal plant – the upgrade is going to cost a lot of money. Thus far, the company has been lucky to keep operating the way it has. They should have been ordered to do this years ago – but during the Bush administration the EPA was ordered not enforce regulations, and so they were able to operate without any interference.
Now that the EPA seems to have woken up from its Rip Van Winkle siesta, PSNH is crying foul.
“I’m not exaggerating when I’m saying we received very little in reaction and communication to the material we were very frequently providing to the EPA,” said PSNH spokesman Martin Murray.
He makes it sound as if they were just waiting for the go-ahead on this. Nothing was stopping them from upgrading their system. What’s the problem now?
This doesn’t even address the need to put an end to coal-burning plants. None other than multi-millionaire and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – not exactly a ranting, raving radical – has seen the light, and is willing to put his money where his mouth is with a sizeable grant to the Sierra Club to help in its effort to put an end to coal-burning plants.

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